NEET UG 2026 paper Leak: Supreme Court seeks NTA reply, says it hasn't learnt lesson

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) on a batch of petitions filed over the leak of question paper for the undegraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2026 (NEET UG 2026), the pre-medical entrance for candidates seeking admission to government and private medical colleges in India..A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe noted with despair that no lessons seems to have been learnt from the past, alluding to similar allegations of paper leak in 2024 and the Supreme Court's directions issued that year to curb similar occurrences. "It is sad that they have not learnt their lesson. We passed an order. A committee was formed. It made recommendations, it was accepted . Monitoring committee was also there," the Court said. Therefore, it sought NTA's response to the present batch of pleas."We will issue notice. There are also connected matters. We are issuing notice in the connected matters. Copy of the writ petitions to be served on the Ld. Solicitor General and all other respondents. We direct NTA to file an affidavit indicating the position as regards the monitoring committee constituted on November 14. We direct K Radhakrishnan, chairman of the committee, to file an affidavit with the steps taken to ensure compliance with the directions high powered committee. List on Friday (May 29)," the Court directed."Next exam date is announced," the counsel for one of the petitioner said, highlighting the date for re-exam announced by the government. The re-examination is scheduled to be held on June 21."We are not so much on the re-examination," the Court said..The petitions were filed after the Union government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled NEET-UG 2026 held on May 3.This was after allegations of a widespread paper leak and an ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe..One of the petitions before the top court, filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) and represented through Advocate Tanvi Dubey, has sought replacement or restructuring of the NTA and has asked the Supreme Court to order re-conduct of NEET UG 2026 under the supervision of a judicially appointed committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.The plea has also sought reforms including “digital locking” of question papers, transition to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) model and publication of centre-wise results to detect anomalies..Another petition, filed by the United Doctors Front through advocates Ritu Reniwal and Charu Mathur, has attacked the legal structure of the NTA itself and seeks its dissolution in the present form.As per that plea, the NTA, being a society registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, lacks direct parliamentary accountability and functions in what it describes as an “accountability vacuum.”Thus, the plea has sought a direction to the Union government to establish a statutory national testing body through legislation passed by Parliament.The petition claims the recurring paper leak controversies violate Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution by compromising merit-based selection and affecting the careers of over 22 lakh candidates.It also relies on reports of a “guess paper” racket allegedly uncovered by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG), which reportedly found substantial overlap between a circulated document and the actual NEET-UG 2026 paper.The plea further states that despite recommendations made after the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, including by the K Radhakrishnan Committee, meaningful reforms were not implemented.Among the measures sought are transition to CBT or hybrid examination models, digital locking of question papers and constitution of a court-monitored committee to oversee future national examinations..A separate plea has also been filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Sudhakar Singh, social activist Anubhav Garg, Indian Medical Association national spokesperson Dhruv Chauhan and political leader Harisharan Devgan.Their petition has sought immediate transition of NEET-UG to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) format, including for the re-examination scheduled on June 21, 2026.The petitioners have asked the Court to direct the authorities to prepare a time-bound roadmap for shifting NEET fully to CBT mode, including infrastructure development, cybersecurity mechanisms and accessibility arrangements for candidates.They have also sought replacement of the NTA with a new independent examination authority having statutory accountability, judicial oversight and technological safeguards.Further prayers include implementation of encrypted digital paper transmission systems, biometric verification and AI-based surveillance systems in national examinations..NEET UG 2024: Supreme Court says NTA, Centre should avoid flip flops, rectify errors in future .NEET was plagued by similar allegations in 2024 as well. However, the NTA had not ordered re-examination that year on the ground that the leak of question paper was limited to Hazaribagh and Patna. Even then, petitions were filed before the top court over the issue. The Supreme Court then had accepted the NTA stand and declined to order a re-examination. Nevertheless, it had issued directions to strengthen the NEET exam framework.It had said that the NTA should avoid "flip flops" with respect to safety of strongrooms where question papers are kept, grant of compensatory marks etc.It had also directed a seven-member committee formed by the Central government to examine the issues and address the same..[Read Live Coverage]